Fashion Forward

Long before Tim Gunn became
a household name and Heidi Klum coined the dismissive phrase “You’re out,” RISD’s
future trendsetters and tastemakers in Apparel Design had been rolling out their own signature creations for the runway. And
they’re doing it again this Saturday, May 21 at Veterans Memorial Auditorium in
Providence, where students present a preview performance of COLLECTION 2011 at 2 pm and the real deal at 7
pm.

This fast-paced runway show
of one-of-a-kind garments has been selected by visiting critics, who have been
advising students throughout the year and represent some of the top names in
fashion today – including Nicole Miller
73 AP, Tommy Hilfiger, Robert Geller 01 AP, Marcia Patmos 91 AP and Tina
Lutz of Lutz & Patmos, and renowned costume designer Karen Young 88 AP.

After months of conceptual
development, experimentation and hard work, more than 50 emerging designers will
give enthusiastic audiences a first-hand look at some of
the portfolio pieces that, along with their RISD degrees, will earn graduates
jobs and internships at some of the world’s top fashion houses. In January, two
dozen Apparel Design seniors converged on Geller’s TriBeCa studio, where he,
Hilfiger, Lutz and Young gave students feedback on their work in progress –
from concepts and inspiration to execution and choice of models.

COLLECTION 2011 will
feature a series of projects by upperclassmen, but the focus will be on this
year’s Apparel Design seniors, who will present designs for evening wear
collections as well as their own thesis collections – unified bodies of work
that highlight the conceptual and technical skills they hope will carry them
into the professional world of fashion. This year, in place of the senior’s
main fall semester project to design and construct a coat, Apparel majors
designed collections in collaboration with the RISD Museum, drawing on themes
from the current exhibition Cocktail
Culture: Ritual and Invention in American Fashion, 1920-1980 (on view
through July 31).

Juniors from Apparel Design
will also drape models in their designs for the runway, mostly with knitwear
and jackets. And selected sophomores will present pieces they created in
response to the “Re-Innovatives” challenge, which calls on them to make
wearable garments out of recycled, non-fabric materials. In past years,
students have made clothing using everything from packing peanuts and tea bags
to rubber gloves, balloons and sheet music.

Following the Saturday
shows, students will sell selected items they’ve made at a sale open to the
public. The post-show sale starts at noon on Sunday, May 22 in the lobby of the
RISD Auditorium.